Malawi to establish independent complaints commission

Government says establishment of an independent police complaints commission will bring confidence to people who feel their cases would be handled unfairly by the police.

The Police IG and Thyolani (front row) pose for a group photograph

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Public Security Often Thyolani said this in Zomba on Tuesday during a consultative meeting with various stakeholders on the establishment of the commission.

He said the police complaints commission will be an independent body which will be making its decisions on people’s complaints independently.

“We are all aware that the police handle complaints against fellow police officers. But there is dissatisfaction with the way these complaints are sometimes handled. Therefore, the [police complaints] commission will be responsible for handling appeals from people who
feel that their complaints were treated unfairly,” he said.

Thyolani added that as part of its role in securing and maintaining public confidence in the complaints system, the commission will be learning from its work to influence change on policing, ensure accountability, best practices and customer service, and dealing with serious complaints and misconduct of police officers.

In his remarks, Inspector General (IG) of Police Lottie Dzonzi said the Malawi Police Service has a constitutional mandate to protect public safety and the rights of people in accordance with the law.

“Police officers are warranted with powers that can strip citizens of their liberty, privacy, their property and in extreme cases their lives. It is inevitable that as the police exercise its powers, disputes and conflicts will arise between it and the citizenry. This will in turn lead to complaints against the police; hence the establishment of this independent complaints commission to resolve such cases without bias,” said Dzonzi.

The system does not work. Even in the UK, where it is in place it favours police officers more than citizens with few officers found guilty. staffing need to be in place especially the head who i suspect should not be from the force; however, sticking point comes in investigative process which will pit officer against officer creating a whistleblower regime much hated by any law enforcement team anywhere!

However, it a welcome development and the force should by all means learn from other countries’ forces in how best to manage and run this IPC.

It is not possible in malawi to have un independent commission. Where will they get officers from? Is it not from the same police they say people have lost trust with? They just want to create a post for a person they have spared someWhere. If it was a disission for good will,they could have just restructured the existing police. How can the big man say;for people are not trusting my team,im creating another one?